Last Time Lady
by Forestfairy12
Summary: Three people escaped Gallifrey as it burned. One, The Doctor in his TARDIS. Two, the Master. And Three, the most powerful of them all. But she forgot, and what she forgot might save the universe... or rip it apart at the seams.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Doctor Who or any of its characters. I only own my OCs Sarah and Derek.**

"Sarah, Sarah, time to get up!" My little brother yelled. I felt his body slam on top of me from beneath my blankets and I let out a yelp. I frantically tore my covers off my face so I could smack him with my pillow. He laughed evilly and darted to my door.

"Derek, that's not funny, you jerk!" I snapped. "You know it's a day off today! Why'd you wake me up?"

He giggled. "There's a funny man at the door, with a paper saying he's a cop. He wants to come in. I told him that Mom wasn't home, but he could talk to my sister. He's waiting in the living room."

I stared at him in horror. "You let him _in the house_!" I yelled, jumping out of bed and grabbing my hoodie. I wrestled it over my head, ran my fingers through my hair and made sure my sweats didn't have holes in them. Then I dashed down the hallway, Derek following after me.

Two people sat on our couch, a man and a woman. The woman had bright ginger hair, and was sipping on a to-go coffee, while the man had carefully styled brown hair and a suit. He was constantly fidgeting too. Something about him made me tense up, like I was preparing for trouble.

I walked around the couch, and faced them, crossing my arms over my chest. The man stood up and extended his hand while showing me his paper.

"Hello, I'm Officer John Smith. This is my partner, Donna Noble." He said. I frowned. He had a British accent so he wasn't really from here. His 'partner' stood up and extended her hand too. I shook both of them and smiled.

"Nice to meet you. Now, which one of you wants to explain to me why you're showing me a blank piece of paper?"

The two exchanged looks and John Smith looked at his paper and frowned. "Darn it, I thought you said you put the badge in the bag?" he said crossly. Donna Noble made a face at him.

"Don't make this out like it's my fault." She protested. I sighed.

"Look, if you can't prove that you're actually police, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. My brother shouldn't have let you in, in the first place." I said, shooting Derek a look. He shrugged and I made a mental note to talk to Mom about his lack of safety skills.

"I understand, but you see, there have been rumors of a strange woman appearing in this area about two years ago, and we think she may be an escaped convict that our department has been tracking." John Smith said. "Any information that you could give us would greatly help in our search."

I shrugged. "I'm sorry sir; I've only been here about that long. my family moved here a few weeks after those rumors started and within a week of our being here they died down."

"I saw her!" Derek piped up. John Smith spun to face him, excitement flaring up in his eyes.

"Really?" he asked. "Can you describe her?"

I rolled my eyes. Derek had claimed that three days after we'd gotten settled in, he'd met a woman in the woods; the rumor woman, she called herself. Mom and Dad had sent the police out there but they hadn't found anything so the story died down. It had been the last rumor about her.

"She had long red hair," Derek was saying, "And she had big green eyes. She was very sad," he continued. John Smith went down on his knee to look my brother in the eye.

"Did she say why she was sad?" he asked softly. I frowned. He sounded way too concerned about this convict. If they were chasing her down, wouldn't they be less sympathetic?

"She said her family was gone. And that it made her said. She said I reminded her of one of her sons."

John Smith smiled slightly. "Yes, I can see how she would think that." he stood and nodded to me. "Thank you for your time. Come on Donna."

The ginger followed him as he walked out the door. It slammed shut behind them and I ran forward and locked it behind them. Then I spun to face Derek. He grinned impishly at me and dashed for our parents' bathroom. I chased after him, and got to my parents' room just as he shut the bathroom door and locked it. I pounded on the wood.

"Open this door right now! You don't just let complete strangers into our _house_! Derek! Do you hear me?" I shouted.

"Shut up!" his muffled voice said through the door. "Do you hear that?"

I froze, terrified that those fake police were going to try to get back in. Instead, I heard a loud grinding noise, like gears whirring against each other. Like metal on metal, almost. I ran to the front window and peered out into our yard as the sound faded away. Nothing was there, so I went back to try and extract my brother from the bathroom.

"Did you scan her?" he asked, anxiously taking the screwdriver from her hands. Donna glared at him.

"What do you think I am, stupid? Of course I scanned her! Why didn't your psychic paper work on her?" she demanded. The Doctor looked at the sonic screwdriver, as he climbed up to the TARDIS consul.

"I told you already, Donna, it doesn't work on geniuses. Therefore she must be one. A genius I mean. How can I be getting these readings? Did you push the wrong button?" the Doctor plugged the sonic screwdriver into the consul and went to the screen. He tapped some buttons tapped them again and frowned.

"So this friend of yours," Donna said, sitting on the seat. "What did he tell you exactly?"

"He said that he thought he'd found another Time Lord but before he could identify them, they disappeared. All we know is that it was a woman. He told me in case I wanted to… to try and find her. He had some DNA on her that he gave to me." the Doctor said, furiously jiggling several different knobs and dials. Donna watched him.

"So could you find out who she was?" she asked, peering at the nonsensical numbers on the screen. The Doctor took a step back and swallowed hard.

"Well," he said slowly. "I did know who she was. And it appears I just found her. That girl, in the house. That was our girl."

Donna laughed. "What do you mean? That little high school kid, is a Time Lord? For real?"

The Doctor looked at her, his eyes bright. "Actually," he whispered. "She's a Time Lady." He began to run around the TARDIS pulling knobs and pressing buttons. Donna followed him.

"What are you doing?" she demanded. He didn't look back at her as he answered.

"I'm taking us back! We have to get to her! By being there we put her in danger! I have to get to her before they do!"

Donna frowned. "What are you talking about? Do you ever make sense?"

The Doctor leaned heavily against the consul as the TARDIS began to grind. "Torchwood. Torchwood is going to go after her as soon as they realize I was there, and they don't even know how much damage they could cause if she's not handled delicately."

Donna smacked him. The Doctor scowled at her.

"Why do you keep doing that?" he yelled. Donna gave him a dark look.

"Who is she!" she shouted. The Doctor looked up at the ceiling and then looked back at her.

"She's the Archivist." He said, then closed his eyes. "And she's going to hate me when she remembers."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much to those of you who reviewed my story! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

The rain pattered on the umbrella that Maddie held above our heads as we waited at the bus stop. I finished my story and waited for her response. Maddie pushed a brown curl behind her ear and stared at me disbelievingly.

"So let me get this straight. Two complete strangers walked up to your house, knocked on your door and your brother just _let them in_? Who _does_ that?" she demanded. I shrugged.

"Apparently, Derek. Mom freaked when she got home. He got lectured for a solid hour about 'stranger danger' and how he should have come to get me first."

Maddie rolled her eyes as the bus pulled to a stop in front of us. "Little siblings. What can you do?"

I wrinkled my nose as we got on the bus. It stank of body odor and gym socks. Maddie and I sat down in the middle, and scooted as far away as we could from the window, which was perpetually jammed so that no one could close it.

"And those people were really weird. They were asking about the rumor woman. And they had accents."

Maddie's eyes widened. "Really? What kind of accents? Ooo, were they Australian? Australians are soooo hot!" she gushed. I rolled my eyes and knocked my shoulder into hers.

"Sorry, they were British." I teased. Maddie clapped her hands together and rubbed them against each other.

"That's just as good. Now, what were they called? Give me some names to look up." she said, taking a notebook out of her backpack and clicking a pen. I leaned back against the slick-backed seat.

"The girl's name was Donna Noble and the guy was John Smith." I said. Maddie wiggled her eyebrows as she jotted the names down.

"Was the guy cute?" she asked. I shrugged and smiled a little. Maddie squealed and latched onto my arm.

"Oh my gosh, he was!" she shrieked. I smiled bigger.

"I did not say that he was cute." I protested. "I didn't say anything."

Maddie's blue eyes were mirthful as she shook me. "You smiled when I asked you. You never smile for guys unless you think they're cute!"

I shook my head and sat up straighter. "Look, they probably weren't even real cops. They had no credible license or anything. I think they might be dangerous."

Maddie stood as the bus jolted to a stop outside our school. "Whatever, Sarah. You just don't want to admit that you thought he was cute."

"Let's just get off this thing. The torture known as school awaits us." I grumbled. Maddie smirked at me as we got off and walked towards the building.

"You say that now," she sang. "So tell me what he looks like? Just so I can make sure to avoid him."

I snorted. "Uh-huh, sure Maddie. Well, he's got thick, brown hair and it looks like he spends a lot of time fixing it when he gets up. His eyes are brown and he was wearing a blue suit. He was thin too. It was like he was underfed or something."

"Oi!" a familiar voice shouted behind us and I spun. Donna Noble and John Smith were both standing there. Donna turned to John and smacked his arm hard.

"What have I been telling you? You're too skinny!" she declared.

 **Donna POV**

Donna watched as the Doctor nodded to Sarah. "Hello again-"

"Are you stalking me?" she interrupted, an expression of genuine fear on her face. The Doctor immediately began shaking his head, his movements jerky and nervous.

"No, no, no, no, I'm not stalking you. But, it's very important that you come with me, alright? There are people, people that want to hurt you, but I can protect you. I just need you to trust me."

Sarah's eyes spat fire. "Why would I go anywhere with you? You showed up at my house, pretending to be a cop, and now you and your ginger henchwoman want me to come with you? Yeah, I don't think so."

Sarah turned and began to power walk towards the school. Her friend kept up with her.

"You said cute, you never said hot," the friend said, excitedly. "And now he wants to sweep you off your feet? Talk about lucky!"

"Shut up, Maddie," Sarah growled. The Doctor ran after her, Donna following hastily. There was something in the Doctor's face, something that made Donna think that he was more worried than he was letting on.

"Listen, to me Sarah, they're coming for you and we need to get out of here, now." The Doctor insisted. Donna spoke up.

"You can trust him, he's not one of those internet stalkers or anything, I can vouch for that."

"Oh please, if you're pretending to be cops then you're involved with something I want no part in." Sarah said. "I bet that you didn't even give me your real names."

"You're right, you're right, and I'm sorry," the Doctor said. "I'm the Doctor."

"Ooo, he's a doctor!" Maddie squealed. Donna bit back a smile as Sarah glared at her.

"Seriously? Seriously?" she asked her friend. Maddie ignored her and turned to the Doctor.

"What kind of danger is Sarah in?" she asked, her brows drawing together. The Doctor moved to walk on Sarah's other side, and Donna walked next to Maddie.

"Extreme danger, and she needs to at least let me explain!" the Doctor exclaimed, frustration dripping from his every word. Sarah growled.

"I don't _need_ to let you do anything, pal. Now get lot, before I yell for the teachers."

"Sarah, please," the Doctor reached out and grabbed the girl's arm. Her response was immediate. She spun in a tight half circle and slammed her foot into the Doctor's chest. He flew backwards and landed hard on the ground.

Donna let out a startled laugh. She'd never seen anyone actually attack the Doctor before. She ran over to him and knelt next to him. He groaned slightly and looked over at the school. Donna followed his gaze just in time to see Sarah disappear into the school, dragging Maddie behind her.

"Just like the first time I met her," the Doctor muttered. "She's so mean."

"You mean the first time you met her, she kicked you then too? Oi, she really doesn't like you, does she? Are you sure this is a good idea?"

The Doctor sat up wincing. "Do you have a better one? Because if you do then, please share."

Donna grabbed the Doctor's hand and hauled him to his feet. "No. I don't have another plan for dealing with a violent Time Lady, who doesn't know what she is. That's your job Space Boy."

The Doctor reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his psychic paper. "Right then. Let's get to work. Allonsy."

 **Sarah's POV**

"Sarah Tyler, would you come to the office, please. Sarah Tyler, please come to the office." The intercom crackled halfway through math. I looked up at Mr. Griffins. He sighed and began to scribble a hall pass for me. I grabbed my bag and walked up to his desk.

"Quite popular with the office this year, aren't we, Miss Tyler?" he asked wryly. I shrugged.

"For once, I actually have no idea what they're mad about. I haven't had the time to do anything yet." I informed him. He handed me the hall pass, eyes twinkling behind his spectacles.

"Yet?" he asked, his mirth thinly veiled. I just smiled sweetly, took the hall pass and walked into the hallway.

I was very familiar with the path to the office, and from multiple routes too. From my English class, you went upstairs, turned left then right and there you were. From my history class you had to walk down the hall two lefts, a right another left and then you were there. From math class all I had to do was walk straight down the hall.

I opened the door and walked in. The secretary jerked her thumb at the door leading to the principal's private office.

"They're waiting for you, Tyler." She barked not even looking up from her magazine. I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks Thomas." I returned, moving towards the back. I stopped with my hand on the knob. What if 'they' meant that crazy 'John Smith' guy and the woman who called him 'Doctor'? I shook myself. They'd never let a nutcase like that into a school.

I opened the door and walked into the office. Principal Moore sat behind his desk, his bald head glinting in the light cast from the long light fixture. In front of his desk sat the two chairs that I liked to alternate sitting in. But someone was sitting in one of them.

When I entered the stranger turned around and smiled. The man's hair was black and short, and his whole demeanor was deliberately trying to be charming. He wore a long blue overcoat and I could see that he wore suspenders and a belt. He extended a hand to me.

"Hello, Miss Tyler. Jack Harkness." He said. I shook his hand once and quickly dropped it. I felt like holding onto him longer than necessary was a very bad plan. Jack turned to Mr. Moore.

"If you don't mind sir, I'd like to talk to Miss Tyler alone." He said, his smile so bright I was sure it could blind people. Mr. Moore stood, and walked to the door.

"Of course, Mr. Harkness. Miss Tyler, please cooperate." He warned me. I slumped into the free chair, while Jack sat himself on the desk.

"So, you probably have a lot of questions," Jack said. "And if I'm right they have a lot to do with this guy." He reached into a yellow envelope on the desk and removed a picture which he then handed to me. I took it from him and bit back a gasp.

The picture was of the Doctor.

"He calls himself the Doctor," Jack said, crossing his arms over his chest. "We have reason to believe you've been in contact with him."

I glared at him. "Who's 'we'?" I demanded, tossing the picture back to him. It didn't go the wat I wanted it to and fluttered to the ground. Jack bent and picked it up.

"We're an organization that has one purpose. To keep tabs on the Doctor. Now, if you've seen him, you need to let us know." Jack leaned down so that we were at eye level. "You could be in danger, if he's talked to you. We need to know all of what happened."

I rolled my eyes and slung my leg lazily over the arm of the chair. "Sorry can't help you. I've never seen this 'Doctor' in my life. Best of luck to you and your crew of stalkers though!" I said cheerily. Jack smiled.

"You're a very good liar, Miss Tyler. I think that's a very attractive quality-"

"No," a familiar British accent butted in. I spun around to look over my seat and groaned. For who should appear behind me but the Doctor and Donna Noble. I glared at them.

"Excuse me," I interjected as the Doctor strode towards Jack Harkness, anger written all over his face. "But I am busy being interrogated here."

The Doctor acted like I hadn't even spoken. "Not this one, Harkness," he said in a hard voice. "This one is off limits to you, now and forever."

Jack spread his hands. "Nice to see you again, Doctor. Why are you so defensive about this girl? Or is it just that you want me all for yourself?"

The Doctor whispered something in Jack's ear, while Donna sat in the chair across from me. She waved.

"Hello again," she said brightly. "The teacher we asked about you said that you'd probably be here. Get in trouble a lot do you?"

I shrugged my shoulders and made a non-committal noise. "Sometimes."

"For real?" Jack's voice was high and squeaky. I glanced over at him. the Doctor was standing in front of him arms crossed. Jack looked like he'd been run over by a cement truck.

"Yes for real. So get Torchwood out of here, so I can get her out of here." the Doctor demanded. I stood, put my hands on my hips and scowled darkly at the Doctor and Jack.

"Now wait just a minute," I said. "I'm not going anywhere with that wacko. I don't even know who he is! And how did you even get in here? This is a school!"

The Doctor showed me his blank piece of paper. "This is psychic paper, shows people whatever I want them to see. Unless you're a genius. Then it won't work, which is why you didn't see anything when I was at your house." he explained. I frowned.

"What are you, Doctor?" I asked. He grinned.

"I'm an idiot with a box," he began, but I held up my hand.

"No you're not. That's who you are. I asked what you are." I reprimanded. For a moment the Doctor looked like I'd punched him in the gut. Then he shook his head.

"Forgot how good you are at technicalities. Now Jack, be good and steer Torchwood off, would you? I have to convince this stubborn child to get on board the TARDIS." The Doctor said. Jack saluted him.

"You've got it sir," he said, and winked at me, before disappearing out the door. The Doctor growled.

"Don't salute me," he muttered under his breath. "Okay," he said, in a normal voice. "Let's get out of here-"

He grabbed my arm and I immediately punched him in the eye. He fell back on the principal's desk, and groaned. He struggled to sit up.

"What was that for?" he moaned. I held up my fists.

"I told you I'm not going anywhere with you," I said. "I don't even know you-"

"When you feel upset you go to the trees," the Doctor interrupted me. "You go to the trees and you sit down and lean against them or you climb to the top and just sit there while the wind sways your branch back and forth.

"And when you dream," he said stepping closer to me. "You dream of a massive library with all the knowledge in the universe and you want to go there and learn, learn all you can, while it's still there.

"You love the rain, and have danced in it before, but you love it more at night, especially when you have something to hold close to you. You love singing, and storytelling, children and playing pranks on people. You like traveling and hate to being contained." The Doctor reached out and took my hand without my noticing. He was telling me things about myself that I'd never told to anyone, not even my closet family.

"You are a storm with skin." He whispered into my ear. I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding, and looked into his eyes. Something glimmered there, something hopeful… but also something very afraid. He squeezed my hand, jolting me out of whatever strange trance I was in. I realized that we were indeed holding hands. I promptly slammed my foot down on his.

He yelped and let go of my hand to fall against the desk again. He looked at me in disbelief and hurt.

"Don't touch me," I said. "How do you know those things? No one knows that about me, how did you know that?"

The Doctor stood up. "Come with me," he said. "And I'll tell you."

 **Donna's POV**

"How are we going to get out of here without Torchwood seeing us?" Donna asked. She understood none of what had just happened, but whatever the Doctor had whispered had worked. They crouched on the stairs, peering around the corner. There was a group of agents standing in the hall. Jack was in the middle of them, trying to convince them to leave. Parts of their conversation carried down to where they were hiding.

"Siberia…"

"Why didn't he take the girl…"

"Not a companion…"

"Let's ask her…"

"Oh, crap," Sarah muttered. "They're going to come and try to talk to me. As far as they know I'm still in the office."

"Are all the exits downstairs?" Donna asked. Sarah pushed her and the Doctor up the stairs, and around a corner, just as the agents clattered up the stairs. Donna held her breath as the converged towards the office, Jack's protests being ignored.

Sarah turned to the Doctor. "They're a fire escape in the Home Ec. Classroom. It's three doors down."

"Show us," the Doctor said.

Sarah watched the agents disappear into the office and ran down the hall, Donna and the Doctor on her heels. _Brilliant_ , Donna thought sarcastically. _We've picked up another runner_.

Sarah stopped in front of room 234 and flung open the door. Five men with the Torchwood symbol on their jackets stared back at them. Donna looked at Sarah, who smiled widely and slammed the door shut.

"Now, we should run." she said brightly. Then she wheeled around and ran down the hall. The Doctor was hot on her heels. Donna gave the door a look before dashing after them.

"Hey, there they are!" someone yelled as they dashed down the stairs. Donna felt her heart leap into her throat. Sarah looked over her shoulder and groaned. She stopped and reached into her bag and pulled out a three small white balls whose fuses had been twisted together. Then she took out a match and lit the fuses with it. Then she tossed it at the foot of the stairs.

A hissing noise began to come from the balls and they shot white smoke out of themselves with vigor. _Smoke bombs_ , Donna thought with glee. _That girl's smart._

Smarter even than Donna had originally thought, because the hall filled with smoke so fast that the agents lost sight of them. And the fire alarms went off. soon they were in the middle of a swarm of high-schoolers and teachers. Donna smiled to herself. In the middle of a swarm with everyone going outside and the halls filled with smoke, the agents wouldn't be able to catch them before they got away.

"Somebody's showing you up," she jibed the Doctor as they walked out of the building. He smiled sheepishly.

"She always did." he admitted. He tapped Sarah's arm and pointed in the direction of the street corner they'd parked the TARDIS on. They began to move through the crowd but before they could get very far they heard a high-pitched voice scream, "Sarah!"

The girl's head whipped around so fast that her red braid smacked the Doctor in the face. Her gray eyes searched anxiously until she saw a small figure in the crowd and barreled towards him.

 **Sarah POV.**

Derek flung himself into my arms and let out a small laugh. "Here," he said, handing me the burnt out smoke bombs and blackened match. "I didn't think you wanted to get caught this time."

I grinned and ruffled his hair. "Thanks. Listen, Derek, there's something I want you to do for me, okay? Tell our parents that one of my friends went hysterical after the fire alarm went off and so I took her home and said I was spending the night there okay?"

Derek looked behind me. "But you're not really, are you? Are you going with them?"

I blinked back sudden tears. "Yeah, yeah I am. But, I won't be gone long and I promise I'll be back soon okay? There's something I need to do first though. No one can know about it, do you understand?"

Derek looked me in the eye. "Do you promise you'll come back?" he asked. I nodded.

"Pinky promise." I said. Then I stood up and rejoined Donna and the Doctor. The Doctor nodded towards a tree. I glanced over and saw a Torchwood agent, loitering underneath it.

"Jack's not very good at throwing them off the scent." Donna muttered. I silently agreed. Tall, Dark and Handsome had turned out to be pretty useless.

"Where are we going?" I asked. The Doctor led us down a street. In the corner a flash of blue caught my eye. I turned and there stood a blue box. I gaped at it.

"Is that a police call box? From the 1950s? Aren't those only in England?" I asked, running towards it. The Doctor followed right behind me. I pushed on the door and walked right inside.

It didn't look like the inside of a blue box. It had a strange looking board thing in the middle of it. I walked over to investigate. When I touched it the whole thing hummed and I got the feeling that it was pleased. Then suddenly its name popped into my head.

"TARDIS," I muttered. The Doctor was at my side in seconds. His eyes fixed on mine.

"What did you just say?" he asked anxiously. I looked into his brown eyes and had a flash of unidentifiable déjà vu.

"TARDIS," I said again. "Time and relative dimension in space, right?"

The Doctor swallowed hard. "Yes. That's right. Okay, I'm taking us to London."

I frowned. "London? How are you going to do that? And furthermore why did we run into a police box to hide?"

"Have you really not noticed that it's bigger on the inside?" Donna asked, sarcastically, sitting on the seat next to the consul. I looked at her then looked around. She was right; it was much bigger than it should have been, but for some reason I was unduly unimpressed.

"Cool. How are we going to get to London?" I asked. The Doctor ran around the room pressing knobs and pulling levers on the consul.

"We're going to use the TARDIS," he said, pressing a button and then turning to me. "Where do you want to start?" he asked. I crossed my arms.

"Why were you at my house? Why did you care about rumor woman? And how did you know all those things about me? I've never told anyone those things." I said. He sighed.

"You told me. In another place, in another time." He said. I frowned.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair.

"I'm not human," he said. "I'm an alien from the planet Gallifrey."

My ears heard the word in slow motion; _Gallifrey._ "I know that word," I said. "Why do I know that word?"

"Because that's where Time Lords and Time Ladies come from. And you're one of them." He said. I laughed bitterly and took a step back. The Doctor walked forward as he continued to talk.

"I heard from a friend that they thought they'd uncovered another Time Lord so I came here, where I found a Time Lady. You. That day in your house was me trying to find another one of my kind." His eyes grew very sad. "All the others are dead. Our planet burned in the last Time War. We're the only two left."

My eyes began to ring and my head spun. "I've been abducted by loons." I finally said. "You're completely crazy."

"No, no, no, I'm not, I promise you I'm not," the Doctor insisted. "I think you may have wanted to forget the Time War and used a Fob Watch to do it, but I promise you, you are a Time Lady." He reached out and touched my shoulder. The minute I felt his hand I kicked him in the chest. Again.

Only this time I also slammed my fist into his nose at the same time. He reached out and tried to grab me, and I turned. I was tired, afraid and confused, so I did the one thing I knew would make him leave me alone.

I kicked him where the sun doesn't shine.

Then I ran out the doors. I saw the landscape around me and froze. In front of me was Big Ben. The clock tower. In London. In front of me. When we should have been in Jasonville, Missouri.

I gasped and bent over. For a moment I thought I was going to be sick. I placed my hands on my knees and breathed in slowly. Then I let it out. Breathed in again. Let it out. Closed my eyes. Opened them. Big Ben was still there.

"Sarah," a weak voice said. I turned and saw the Doctor standing in the doorway of the TARDIS. I prepared to run, but then I saw his eyes. I'd never seen anything so pained and so scared before. He took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Listen to me, Sarah. If you want to go back home that's fine. I'll take you back, get out of your life and never come back. But I'm begging you, at least listen first. At least hear what I have to tell you before you tell me to go away."

I looked at him for a long moment and then sighed in defeat. "Who am I?" I asked. He smiled slightly and stepped aside. I walked past him and back into the TARDIS.

"You're the Archivist," he said as I walked past him.

An hour later I thought I had the gist of it. "So Time Lords and Daleks fought in the Time War and both sides were destroyed. We were the only two to escape and you think my memories were so bad that I erased my own memory with this fob watch deal?" I clarified. The Doctor shrugged.

"More or less, yeah."

"And my real name is the Archivist? Why would I choose that?" I asked. The Doctor laughed.

"You chose it because as the Archivist you were in charge of the Archives; all the information the Time Lords possessed, you knew about. In fact, that's why my friend told me you existed. Something is coming, something only you have the knowledge to stop."

I frowned. "What is it? What's coming?"

The Doctor eyed me levelly. "An invasion, Archivist. An invasion."


	3. Chapter 3

I frowned. "What is it? What's coming?"

The Doctor eyed me levelly. "An invasion, Archivist. An invasion of creatures only you can stop."

"Only me? What could I possibly know about stopping an invasion?" I asked crossly, pacing the floor. The Doctor kept his distance as he explained.

"There's an alien race, one I've never encountered before, one that could potentially wipe out the entire human race-"

"Just like every other alien invasion ever," Donna mumbled. The Doctor glared at her.

"Back to the point, they are coming, but I have never seen anything like them," the Doctor continued. "So I don't know how to stop them or even if they can be stopped."

"And how does this concern me?" I asked. The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Well you live on Earth don't you?" he asked sarcastically. I glared at him.

"Fair enough. But if I can't remember anything, then how am I supposed to remember an alien race?" I demanded.

The Doctor got up and began to pace. "We need to find your fob watch," he mused. "In order to do that, we need to find a place that would have been important to you, important enough that you would have hidden your memories there."

"How are we going to do that if she has no memory?" Donna asked. The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair.

"I'd thought about that," he said, running around the consul, pressing buttons, pulling knobs, and flipping switches. "I would take her to Gallifrey, but since that's not an option I'm going to take her to a place the Archivist spent a lot of time at."

"Why can't we go to Gallifrey?" I asked, rubbing my hands together. I felt cold, from my head to my toes. The Doctor froze for a moment, his hand resting on the consul. His tongue flicked out to lick his lips before he turned his head to me.

"The Time Lords weren't the only thing that burned up in the time war. Gallifrey was destroyed too." he couldn't meet my eyes when he said it. He turned his head away quickly and leaned against the consul.

"How did Gallifrey burn?" I asked. I felt a stab of remorse for the world I couldn't remember, but whose name I knew. The Doctor didn't look at me.

"An accident," he said. "A stupid, unfit, monstrous Time Lord, did something very foolish. It cost more than he'd ever dreamed."

I stood from the seat. "I need to be alone for a minute," I said. "This is a lot to process."

I walked towards the first door I saw, pushing it aside, heedlessly ignoring the Doctor's call to come back. I ran down one hallway after another, until a door appeared before me. I turned to go back the way I came, but I was faced with the door again. I turned back around and faced the same door. I had already guessed that the TARDIS was special, and this was only further proof. I opened the door and went inside.

It was a room, decorated for a girl, or by a girl in pinks and blues, with fluffy blankets and pillows covering a bed. There was a small in-table next to the bed. It had several pictures, a blonde girl with an older blonde woman that must have been her mother. Another held a picture of the same blonde girl, standing with Jack Harkness from the school. The one that really caught my eye was the one of the blonde and the Doctor. They had their arms wrapped around one another, smiling like two teenagers in love. It caused a prick of pain to go through my heart.

I sat down on the bed, curled up and cried. I cried for the strange feeling that the ship gave me. I cried for not being a human. I cried for a planet I couldn't remember and a race I didn't know. I cried for lost memories, alien invasions, my brother and my parents. I cried because I wasn't his sister or their daughter, if the Doctor was telling the truth.

After I'd finished sobbing I picked myself up. I hadn't noticed the curtains in the corner until now. They were pink with white polka dots. I walked over and pulled them back. The sight took my breath away, and I forgot about my grief as awe overtook me.

The view beyond the window was of space, a great black backdrop, pierced through by millions upon millions of stars. I gazed in shock as a shooting star whisked by, and planets approached and grew small. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

"It wonderful isn't it?" the Doctor said from behind me. His voice was soft and he leaned against the door-frame, making no move to enter the room. There was a wistful sadness on his face as he looked around the room.

"Yes." I said, my voice thick from my tears. I coughed and tried again. "I've never seen anything so beautiful." my voice sounded more like mine now. I rarely ever cried.

"You've seen this view before. Maybe not through that window, but you've seen it before." the Doctor said. I noticed he held a leather book in his hands. "You loved it just as much then." he heaved a rather large sigh. "Do you know what room you're in?" he asked, walking over to the picture frames.

I shook my head. "No. Who is she? She's pretty." I nodded and the pictures. He laughed.

"I'll explain why that's funny in a moment. Her name was Rose, Rose Tyler. She and Jack were my companions for a little while. I would have held onto them longer, but in the end all my companions leave. The only people who don't leave Time Lords are other Time Lords, and even that's not an unshakable rule." the Doctor said. I sat on the opposite side of the bed.

"What happened to Rose?" I asked. He smiled bitterly.

"When I first met her, all I could think was that she was almost identical to your first regeneration," the Doctor sounded like he was admitting a secret. "That's why I laughed. When you say she's pretty you might as well be complimenting yourself." he picked up the photo of himself and Rose. "I couldn't even admit it to myself, but she was so like you in appearance that I pretended she was you. I know she loved me. I loved her too, not the same way, and not for the same reasons but they were close enough that I could pretend. I felt like if she left, I'd loose you all over again." he set the picture back down on the in-table. "She's in a safe place now, with her family. She, her mum, her father, and her friend, they'll be alright where they are now."

I waited, while he gathered himself together. I didn't trust him at all, but I did pity him. This was clearly a painful subject for him to talk about, and it would be cruel to press him too hard. I wanted all the answers though. He said she looked like my first regeneration. That he'd pretended she was me. What were we to one another that he would have been so desperate to have me back, even if it wasn't really me?

"Why did you pretend she was me?" I asked after a moment. He looked at me, silent as the grave. There was such raw pain and sadness in his eyes. It felt like I was staring straight into his soul and seeing his pain, agony, and loneliness of years and years. How much had the Doctor suffered, thinking he was the only one of his kind?

"This is your diary," he held out the leather bound book to me. I took it, taking care to keep our hands separate. He smiled sadly at the worn cover. "You filled up ten of them. I have them all. If you read through, you may start to remember bits and pieces. You won't remember everything without your Fob watch, but it may be enough to tell us where you hid it."

"Answer my question." I told him. He shook his head.

"Read the diary and you'll figure it out. I can't... I'm a coward." he admitted, standing. "I'm too much of a coward for many things, but especially that. Take this room. It might as well be yours anyway."

He walked out, leaving me alone with the diary. I considered throwing my shoe at his head, or dragging him back and demanding answers, but I doubted either one would do any good. So I opened the diary and began to read.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _Today was my first day at the Academy, and it is not what I expected. In my classes there are many students, smart ones and foolish ones. You can almost see in their faces, which ones were inspired, which went insane, and which ran away from initiation. I was inspired. The boy in the back of the class was driven insane. He talks about drums a lot._

 _The boy who sits next to me is called Theta Sigma. We mostly call him that, except Drax who calls him Thete. I think that Drax is fond of him, although I do not understand why. Theta Sigma does not try very hard at his schoolwork at all. He spends most of his time on pranks or with his equally foolish friends._

 _Today as I tried to read my book after I'd finished with my work, he kept tossing notes onto my desk. I collected them in a small pile and then after class dumped them in the incinerator. Theta Sigma saw me do it too. Hopefully he will not bother me tomorrow too. If he does I will ask to switch seats._

 _The teachers like me well enough, because I work hard and do well in class. I think I will achieve the Time Lord Status with little trouble. I can still see the Schism, burning and churning before my eyes. To understand all of that power and terrible beauty... it would be a dream come true. I won't pass if I don't sleep though, so I must put this book down and rest. I shall try to write often. I don't want to forget a single day of any of my regenerations._

It was strange, reading the diary. It was clearly in my handwriting, but I couldn't remember having written a single word of it. It was ironic, that I'd wrote that I didn't want to forget and then wiped my own memories.

The noise I'd heard at my home filled the air, a strange whir, like rasping metal. I set the book on my bed and walked out of my new room. I think that the TARDIS helped me find my way back, because I was there in no time. The Doctor looked up from the consul when I walked in. Donna was lounging in the seat. She waved at me.

"Find yourself a room?" she asked kindly. I found myself liking her a small bit. She had seemed like fun at the school.

"Yeah. Where's yours at?" I asked. She smiled.

"I'll show you after we look about... where have we landed again?" she turned to the Doctor. He wiped his hands on his pants and rounded the consul.

"It's called Grimbly. Sarah has a friend who still lives here. He and his library may be able to jog her memory."

I perked up. "A library?" I asked, excitement tingling in my stomach. "A good one."

The Doctor nodded. "Your favorite one." he said. "Let's go."

He walked down the ramp, and Donna and I hurried to follow him.


End file.
